This invention relates to new and useful improvements in the manufacture and construction of prosthetic or artificial feet, particularly prosthetic feet known in the industry as the SACH (solid-ankle-cushion heel).
Conventionally, SACH feet include a keel with a single lower reinforcing belt or the like extending forwardly from a rigid keel in order to give some degree of resistance to dorsiflexion of the foot when in use.
One such device is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 3,098,239 in which the reinforcing belt extends from a keyway in the toe of the keel.
Such a system often gives insufficient control of the flexure of the toe area because of the difficulty of controlling the rigidity of this area.
Other SACH feet on the market utilize a foam covering over the keel which, because of the type of manufacture, shows a parting line half way up the finished foot which is unsightly; and some feet have a foam body portion surrounding the keel which, after some use, tends to detach therefrom particularly at the back of the heel portion of the keel.